Trees and Other Endangered Species

So, we’re completely destroying any and all trees within a 2000000 mile vicinity of humanity. And we think it’s just great.

We’ve already almost completely depleted our sources of teak, mahogany, and yellow balau. So we’re just finding new, more unreached places that haven’t been exploited yet, as soon as it becomes too rare and expensive anywhere. Good idea, right?

I don’t know. I think it’s a bit much when you get to the point of exploiting and driving TREES to extinction. How absolutely pathetic.

All you lovely loggers out there: Get off your butt, and go PLANT a tree. Then, sit, watch, and nurture said tree until it is at an age where you can kill it. Or even better, wait till it’s big enough for you to make a table out of just one horizontal slice. Record observations…like HOW FREAKING LONG IT TOOK. Like, oh, I don’t know, maybe a couple decades.

Now tell me that logging is sustainable.

Honestly, if you can find space that is not already being utilized (including by nature!) and find some magic way to fast grow these trees that you love so much for your furniture, toothpicks, and other decorations, then by all means, go right ahead. Plantation grow these trees (I already know it’s barely possible) and make your money that way. Don’t exploit nature’s creation and drive others out of their homes in the name of money!

Oh yeah…you’re humans. Just kidding, that’s not possible. That’s all that matters, after all. How much bloody green PAPER (made of trees, you guys…) you can make in your life time is not, a repeat not a measure of your value as a person.

Look, brah. If you really want all this furniture/toothpicks…

Yeah, I don’t know. Just go plant a bloody tree.

Naughty Barbie

Came across this and it made me lol. At least someone's ashamed of Barbie's bad habits....

Just, how many of donations do you think went to making this video?

Realizations of the Deep Jungle

I was watching Deep Jungle on tv the other day. And for once, a tv show actually made a point.

They were simply pointing out what caused the end to great empires and cities, like Angkor Wat. I mean back in the day, that place was booming. At 1000 square kilometers, you can imagine. That's bigger than NYC.  But what could cause the fall of such an empire?

Unsustainable expansion.

But development is inevitable, you shout. Wrong. We don't have to develop, aka continuing to destroy nature. It's just required to uphold the Ponsey(?) schemes we call economies. It eats growth - once there is no more capacity for growth, it collapses. Same exact concept here. They continued to cut down forest, farm and use the wood. They didn't know that there wasn't an endless supply of forest. They honestly didn't know any better when they decimated their landscape, and then Nature said 'You went too far' and the jungle reclaimed everything until about 400 years ago. I guess that's one point for the jungle.

See, my problem with this here is that in this 'information age' we know exactly what we are doing to the environment. We've known for years - it's not something new. We're not living thousands of years ago in the jungle without any thought of long-term consequences.

Yet we have the gall to call things like the manufacturing of endless cheapo goods in China, or the development of coastlines in south east asia 'progress'. But in our minds, we have not progressed from thousands of years ago. At least not all of us.

And in the end, this show points out, that us people...we think we're all just so different from the creatures that live around us. And we are, I guess. Just not in the way we thought. We're the only species on this earth with the capacity to save other species.

The question is, will we?

...by the looks of things, I think not. We're just heading toward being one big giant Angkor Wat. We're all gonna starve to death. :|

Under the Spotlight

Most people probably don’t know this, but Malaysia actually lies at the center of the wildlife trade. Between a corrupt, un-enforced law against wildlife trade and an abundance of untouched rainforest, Malaysia is seemingly the perfect place to set up shop.

            With quickly disappearing rainforests, devoted to palm plantations and development, no one will really notice that all the animals that are left in the forests are going. Dozens of animals are killed every night just from crossing highways that cut through sections of forests called ‘corridors’. These corridors connect fragments of forest together and keep the gene pool diverse. These highways have been established with ‘underpasses’ for the animals to use – I don’t understand how they came up with that. Because the tapir that’s wandering through the forest is going to be all: ‘Oh look! It’s an underpass! I should use it so I don’t have to cross the highway and get squished’. Not to question an animal’s intelligence, but that is just not how they were made.

            On top of this, the government has only just started to show it has any sign of a spine, however small it may be. They convicted Anson Wong and have sent him to jail, which is to be applauded even though it was only for six months, with a fine of RM190,000. The Malaysian government is known for it’s corruption and nepotism, and it is feared that these wildlife traders are paying off any law enforcement officers that get their hands on them; on top of this, these traders must have some inside deals going on! Somebody within the government is in on this, and is maintaining Malaysia’s position as an easy place to do dirty business.

            Just imagine how booming the economy would be if the wildlife trade counted as a legal form of business? The illegal wildlife trade is currently the third most lucrative business there is – with prices being higher than they have ever been. A single tiger skin can fetch up to US$20,000, a tooth US$700.

            China, I continue to show you my gratitude for maintaining demand for such wonderful things. Really, thank you so much. (NOT.)